When I Was Your Age now with fewer mistakes P
by Sergeant Sunshinetango
Summary: When Tendou Ryuu finds out his mother has engaged him against his will, what can his uncle Ranma say to pull him out of his funk?  This is also part of a small, raunchy one-shot series on  I'm working on called "Shameless." Under TheBatCat. EDITED


When I Was Your Age

In the back yard of his mother Nabiki's two-story estate in Kyoto, surrounded by several worn wooden men, Tendou Ryuu was moping. His mother, the source of his less-than-enthusiastic mood, was wisely staying out of sight inside the house, no-doubt discussing business with their "guests," the honorable Mrs. and Mr. Fujita. The business in question, of course, being the marrying of Nabiki's son to the Fujita's daughter, Junko, against the will of both teens.

"Dammit!" Ryuu shouted, standing up and high-kicking the head of a nearby wooden man. This wasn't fair! His mother didn't care one iota that Ryuu might not appreciate such an arrangement being made against his will – and how could she _not_ know that her decision to engage him to the Fujita girl would make him angry? Had she not seen the reactions of both her sister and brother-in-law when they were first engaged? Ryuu had heard the stories, and seen the many older patches on the wall of the Tendou Dojou, evidence of the fights that had broken out between his aunt and uncle, and their many, many suitors, back in the day.

Why would his mother think this was even remotely a good idea?

"Because the Fujitas have more money than Kami-sama." Ryuu grumbled, leaning against the still-quivering wooden man he'd just attacked.

He'd been thinking of ways to get out of the engagement, but as he was sixteen and still a minor his options were limited. He could feign homosexuality, knowing his mother's stance on such things: she'd never force him to marry a woman... but the Fujitas did have a younger son, Makoto, and he wouldn't put it past his mother to just shift him off on the kid.

There was the "running away" option, but since he hadn't inherited his father Ryouga's poor sense of direction, Ryuu could never hope to get truly lost. His mother would eventually find him, and his father would be unnecessarily worried as a result of his son's absence. It was no fault of Ryouga's that Ryuu was currently engaged to a girl he'd spoken maybe three words to in his life, so Ryuu couldn't really justify worrying him.

The last option he'd considered made him cringe: seppuku. No way was he going to kill himself, of course, but he could threaten. Then again, his mother would probably call him out; and there would be the worrying, from his father, and again Ryuu just couldn't find enough anger in himself to neglect his father's feelings.

So how the hell was he going to get out of this?

As he was pondering becoming a monk, Ryuu heard the footsteps of someone approaching from the house. He looked up from his bare, filthy feet to see his uncle Ranma sauntering across the stones and earth. Ryuu wasn't angry at his uncle Ranma – really, he was just angry at his mother and the Fujita family – so he gave the older man a weak smile. Ranma smiled back, waving haphazardly as he took a seat on a low, decorative stone a few feet from his nephew.

"Hey, Ryuu-kun." Ranma said.

"Oji-san," Ryuu returned, nodding to his uncle, "did you want to train?" Normally Ryuu enjoyed sparring with his uncle, – the man was a legend, after all – but today he wasn't feeling up to doing much other than hitting and shouting, and Ranma didn't take kindly to anger-motivated attacking. A martial artist was supposed to be composed, and if Ryuu wanted to be a martial artist, Ryuu had to attack without anger or fear.

Ranma, mercifully, shook his head, tossing his thick black braid over his shoulder, only to have the pigtail slip back down to rest against his armpit. "No, no. I wanted to talk to you. Come here, siddown." Ranma's easy speech and casual attitude had always had a way of relaxing Ryuu. Living with a mercenary-like mother who treated Ryuu vaguely like a prized pet, and an anxious father who acted like Ryuu was going to spontaneously break made him crave Ranma's easy-going nature.

Still, he wanted to be left alone. But he wasn't about to be rude to his Master. With a small sigh, Ryuu walked over and sat down on the ground in front of his uncle, waiting for the older man to regale him with some sort of martial arts-related wisdom – a favorite tactic of the Master of the Masubetsu Kakutou Tendou-Saotome-ryu.

"Ryuu, have you ever had sex?" The question took him completely by surprise. So surprised was Ryuu, in fact, that he didn't answer right away. Instead, he gaped like a carp in the face of his uncle's rather aloof expression. Ranma wasn't even looking at him at the moment, deciding instead that the maple orchard around the middle Tendou sister's home was more interesting.

"Um, uh, n-no," Ryuu finally managed, his face red, "why?"

Ranma smiled, giving Ryuu a sideways glance. "You're missin' out," Ryuu rolled his eyes theatrically, recovering from his initial shock, "and why _am_ I askin'? What an interesting question." A moment passed, during which Ranma made no effort to answer said "interesting question." Ryuu was starting to get a little impatient.

"Yeah, so could I get an answer," Ranma glanced at him sharply, and Ryuu quickly added, "Master."

Nodding approvingly, Ranma continued. "Ryuu, do you think your aunt Akane is pretty?"

Shrugging, Ryuu responded in the affirmative, unsure of where this line of questioning was going. "I did, too. I've always thought she was beautiful, even when I was insulting her." Ranma stared at him, almost expectantly.

"That's... nice." Ryuu responded haltingly.

Ranma rested his elbows on his knees and leaned down, getting his face closer to his nephew's. "Fujita Junko-san is also very pretty."

Ryuu snorted; he was getting it, now. "Yeah, so? Doesn't mean I want to marry a stranger."

To his surprise, Ranma nodded. "And I agree with you, but that ain't what I'm suggesting."

"Oh." Well, he'd thought he was getting what his uncle was getting at. Now Ryuu was confused all over again. "Well, what are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting that, when I was your age, I had no idea what I wanted in a woman. I hadn't thought about women like that – hell, I hadn't even thought about women that much around all the martial arts," his uncle sighed almost wistfully and stared at something over Ryuu's shoulder, "when I met your aunt I thought, 'If I'm gonna be stuck with anyone, it ain't gonna be with no psycho.'"

Ryuu laughed, rubbing the back of his head bashfully.

"But Ryuu-kun," Ryuu's laughing petered out, "do you know what happened?"

Ryuu shook his head. "What?"

Ranma leaned back, looking at Ryuu dead in the eyes, "I realized, one day, maybe a few months after we'd been engaged, that maybe, just maybe, bein' engaged to a pretty girl wasn't so bad. I looked at all the other girls, too, and thought that maybe this situation of mine wasn't so bad. And then I started to see your aunt a little differently."

"Differently... how?"

Ranma barked out a laugh. "How do you think, kid? I saw her as a woman, a woman livin' in the same house as me that my parents could've cared less if they found out I was having sex with her."

Ryuu did his impression of a carp again.

"What? I mean, sure, I saw all the other girls kinda like that, too, except that when I'd started thinkin' about Akane that way, I just couldn't _stop _thinkin' about her, an' that's when I started to think that maybe I actually liked bein' engaged to her. Maybe she was right for me." Ranma stopped talking, and just smiled.

The two martial artists stared at one another for a long moment. "So... you're saying..." Ryuu trailed off meaningfully and Ranma sighed loudly.

"I'm sayin', that maybe you're situation isn't so bad, kid. Junko-san is pretty, an' I've been listening to her argue with her folks for the last hour an' a half – she's smart. Plus, she's a gymnast," Ranma winked and leered, "limber. Do _not_ tell your aunt, mother, or God that I said that." He finished his speech by shoving a finger threateningly in Ryuu's face, who nodded quickly.

Scratching his cheek, Ryuu stared behind his uncle at the house. Through the open shoji leading into a long hallway, he saw Junko stomping angrily from the direction of the family room. She was muttering to herself, and her bobbed black hair was slightly mussed around her pretty, elfin face. She was wearing a short, stylish yellow yukata patterned with black cherry blossoms. When she passed within his line of vision, her head turned, and her almond-shaped eyes narrowed slightly in recognition and possible irritation. Slowly, Ryuu inclined his head toward her, and he saw in his peripheral Ranma do the same, over his own shoulder. Junko returned the gesture, quickly, and moved on, disappearing behind the wall.

Ryuu looked into the empty space she'd left behind, and then up at his uncle, who was already staring at him. "See? She's not so bad." Ranma said softly.

"Yeah, I guess," Ryuu thought for a moment, "so... did you fall in love with Oba-san because you realized she was right for you after all?"

"Pretty much," Ranma smirked, "but I wouldn't have even thought about the possibility of marrying her had I not realized what was in store for me with the arrangement."

Ryuu frowned, shaking his head. "What was that?"

Ranma leaned down and motioned for Ryuu to come closer. Cupping his hands around his mouth, Ryuu's uncle whispered, "Sex."


End file.
